Parker focusing on fielding while fighting for rotation spot

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Mitchell Parker figured to make his major league debut sometime in 2024. He was added to the 40-man roster to be protected from the 2023 Rule 5 Draft, so his time in the big leagues was coming at some point.

No one expected it to be as early as it was, nor that the left-hander would stay in the major league rotation through the end of the 2024 season.

When Josiah Gray landed on the injured list after only two starts in mid-April, the Nats made the surprise call to Parker to make his big league debut. Not to mention it was to be at Dodger Stadium on Jackie Robinson Day.

No pressure, new guy.

But Parker dazzled, striking out Shohei Ohtani once and Mookie Betts twice over five strong innings to become the franchise’s first rookie starter to win his big league debut since Stephen Strasburg. His rookie season was off and running.

Parker, 25, finished 7-10 with a 4.26 ERA and 1.305 WHIP over 29 starts as a solidified piece of the 2024 rotation. But he entered 2025 spring training seemingly in a battle for the fifth starter’s spot.

“Overall, I would say it was a pretty successful year,” Parker said of his rookie campaign. “Big one, I stayed healthy for the entire time, so I can't be upset with that. I learned a lot. Learned how to prepare for games, learned how to prepare for those level hitters a little better. Even learn how to execute when you had to. Just a lot of little things that went into a big season.”

The Nationals added Michael Soroka and Shinnosuke Ogasawara and re-signed Trevor Williams in the offseason. Including the likes of sure-things MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin, fellow rookie standout DJ Herz, and Cade Cavalli returning from injury, the Nationals now have up to eight pitchers competing for five rotation spots.

“We're all here to compete,” Parker said. “We're all good friends. We all love being with each other. But in order to be able to play in a World Series, everyone's got to compete. So we're out here all making each other better, keeping each other honest. It's a little friendly competition. End of the day, worst case, everyone's getting a little bit better.”

One area where Parker needs to get a lot better is fielding his position. Pitchers’ fielding practice (PFP) is always a point of emphasis in spring training. But no pitcher has to take it as seriously as Parker.

The southpaw really struggled with his defensive work in the field. He only had 13 defensive chances last year, but five resulted in errors. Improvement has been a point of emphasis so far in camp.

“I'm happy where it's at,” he said of his defensive progress. “They've all done a really good job at helping me, making sure we're getting everything done. Getting a little extra reps on bullpen days or just even out there when the team's doing it. Just squeezing in as many as we can. I'm comfortable with it and gonna keep working on it as the year goes on. It's not going to just be something that stops right now.”

With essentially a full major league season under his belt, the rookie nerves should be behind him. The main cause of his fielding mishaps were due to him rushing to make the play. With his experience, Parker is looking to slow the game down.

“That's definitely one of the ones I said, 'Don't make a fast game faster,'” he said. “I sped the game up on myself last year a couple times, and we saw how that turned out. So just trying to keep everything at an even pace and not overthinking it.”

If Parker can get that part of his game under control, he’ll have a strong case to make the Opening Day rotation ahead of Ogasawara and Herz, who both have less major league experience.

Parker, Ogasawara and Herz have options remaining, which means whoever doesn’t make the team will be waiting for the first opportunity in the minor leagues as an easy call-up. Just because you’re sent down, that doesn’t mean you’ll stay down.

Regardless of who makes the roster out of camp, the starting pitchers believe they’re the position group that boasts the most depth on the roster, which leads to hope for a strong season on the mound for the Nationals.

“Oh, 100 percent,” Parker said. “Like they said last year, everybody kept each other honest with it. Nobody wanted to go down. So we were all pushing each other to be the best we could. And it worked out for a good while, and we were all pretty happy with how it ended. Hoping to carry it over to this year. There are no bad pitchers out here.”